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11 Ways Your Printer is Costing You Money

//11 Ways Your Printer is Costing You Money

An easy solution to a complex problem.

When looking for ways to reduce costs and save money for your company, the first thought is usually: “where can we make cuts?” At Applied Imaging, we believe this way of thinking is a little backward. It isn’t always about cutting back, in fact, we’ve found that more times than not, it’s about investing in a product or service that can make your company more productive.

Currently, your printers are costing you money in ways you might not even know about. We have a solution that saves our customers an average of 41% on their printing costs, but before we jump into that, take a look at the list below and see just how big of an impact your printers could be having on your bottom line.

1

Ink can be costly and always seems to run out.

Ink always seems to run out when you are right in the middle of a big printing project. But there is more to the cost of ink than inconvenience. Have you ever sat down and tallied up just how much your company is spending on ink? If you rely heavily on your desktop printers – chances are you’re spending a lot.

2

IT Spends too much time managing individual printers/networks.

Installing print drivers, fixing printers, ordering supplies – it’s not usually in your IT
team’s job description. That being said, when something goes wrong with a printer or network, it is usually these individuals who step up to find a solution. Your IT team is a highly valued resource - if they are spending their precious time fixing printing problems, your printers are costing you money in the form of highly-skilled human resources.

3

Without the ability to monitor who’s printing what, it is impossible to reduce waste.

Did Marcy from the 4th floor send a print job that she didn’t end up needing? Is Bob printing his son’s birthday invites out again? If you don’t have insight into jobs that are being printed, controlling those costs and reducing waste can be a nightmare – and an expensive one.

4

Downtime = A loss of productivity.

You never realize how much you rely on your printer until it’s down. It’s even worse when it affects the whole department. Routing to different printers, having to outsource that last job, scrolling through social media while you wait for a solution – all of these things are outcomes of a downed printer that can have a huge negative impact on the day’s productivity.

5

It’s not as secure as you think.

Every business has critical, sensitive information that needs protection – employee information and trade secrets being the main ones. There are regulations on how this information should be stored and distributed. If something sensitive is left on a printer or that printer’s hard drive is not secure – you run the risk of fines which could cost your company a significant amount of money.

6

If you can’t predict future spend, budgeting is more like guesswork.

Is your business the same today as it was 10 years ago? Most likely not — and neither is your infrastructure. Having a technology roadmap will help you to predict what you need to be successful in the future. But without a vision, it’s difficult to budget.

7

Mergers & acquisitions could bring on a whole new set of issues.

Mergers and acquisitions can not only bring on new staff members, but also new systems, processes and equipment. Which machines do you keep? Do new processes need to be implemented? Will your original infrastructure still be functional? The time spent figuring all this out becomes very costly and can often lead to expensive mistakes.

8

For mobile employees, printing can be a hassle.

More and more companies are starting to move towards a mobile workforce, especially businesses with multiple locations. They’re doing this because of the time and money that can be saved, but that time and money can be lost when it comes to printing capabilities. Users traveling between offices often can’t print from anywhere without IT intervention. Now, not only are your mobile employees being held up, but your IT staff is also being taken away from their other duties.

9

When each department makes its own buying decisions, you lose sight of the bigger picture.

Often times, different departments make their own buying decisions when it comes to their printing needs. Though this seems like a great business decision at the surface level, it’s actually not in the best interest of the company. Multiple invoices from different organizations covering hardware, software, toner, etc. can become very convoluted, which makes it more difficult to decipher where you’re overspending.

10

There’s no way to tell if employees are following your printing policies.

You come up with a printing policy for a reason; by giving employees guidelines on printer usage, you’re able to more efficiently monitor costs. But how well do you really know what happens after they click print? By not assessing your print infrastructure frequently, there’s no way to tell if employees are following the procedures or if those procedures are even effective.

11

Out-of-date equipment hurts more than just the environment.

As we all know, technology is evolving and becoming more efficient on a daily basis. By hanging on to your old and out-of-date equipment, you’re missing out on these technological advancements. Not only are new machines more eco-friendly, but by lowering wasteful printing and ink usage, you can also reduce costs significantly.

What Now?

You know your printer is costing you a significant amount of money, but what can you do about it? At Applied Imaging, we offer managed print services which means we help companies like yours evaluate their printing needs and come up with a tailored, cost-effective solution. If you’re interested in saving big on your companies printing costs, click below to see how we can help.